Sudan

Sudan officially the Republic of Sudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, Kenya and Uganda to the southeast, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest.

Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented
governments have dominated national politics since independence from
Anglo-Egyptian co-rule in 1956. Sudan was embroiled in two prolonged
civil wars during most of the remainder of the 20th century. These
conflicts were rooted in northern economic, political, and social
domination of largely non-Muslim, non-Arab southern Sudanese. The first
civil war ended in 1972 but another broke out in 1983. Peace talks
gained momentum in 2002-04 with the signing of several accords. The
final North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January
2005, granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years followed by a
referendum on independence for Southern Sudan. The referendum was held
in January 2011 and indicated overwhelming support for independence.
South Sudan became independent on 9 July 2011. Sudan and South Sudan
have yet to fully implement security and economic agreements signed on
September 27, 2012 relating to the normalization of relations between
the two countries. The final disposition of the contested Abyei region
has also to be decided. Since South Sudan's independence, conflict has
broken out between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement-North (SPLM-N) in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states, which
has resulted in 1.2 million internally displaced persons or severely
affected persons in need of humanitarian assistance. A separate
conflict, which broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003, has
displaced nearly two million people and caused an estimated 200,000 to
400,000 deaths. Violence in Darfur in 2013 resulted in an additional
estimated 6,000 civilians killed and 500,000 displaced. The UN and the
African Union have jointly commanded a Darfur peacekeeping operation
known as the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Mission in Darfur
(UNAMID) since 2007. Peacekeeping troops have struggled to stabilize the
situation and have increasingly become targets for attacks by armed
groups. In 2013, 16 peacekeepers were killed, UNAMID's deadliest year so
far. Sudan also has faced refugee influxes from neighboring countries,
primarily Ethiopia, Eritrea, Chad, Central African Republic, and South
Sudan. Armed conflict, poor transport infrastructure, and government
denial of access have impeded the provision of humanitarian assistance
to affected populations.

federal republic ruled by the National
Congress Party (NCP), which seized power by military coup in 1989; the
CPA-mandated Government of National Unity, which between 2005 and 2011
provided a percentage of leadership posts to the southern Sudan-based
Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), was disbanded following the
secession of South Sudan

Overview: Sudan is an extremely poor country that has
experienced protracted social conflict, civil war, and, in July 2011,
the loss of three-quarters of its oil production due to the secession of
South Sudan. The oil sector had driven much of Sudan's GDP growth since
1999. For nearly a decade, the economy boomed on the back of rising oil
production, high oil prices, and significant inflows of foreign direct
investment. Since the economic shock of South Sudan's secession, Sudan
has struggled to stabilize its economy and make up for the loss of
foreign exchange earnings. The interruption of oil production in South
Sudan in 2012 for over a year and the consequent loss of oil transit
fees further exacerbated the fragile state of Sudan’s economy. Sudan is
also subject to comprehensive US sanctions. Sudan is attempting to
develop non-oil sources of revenues, such as gold mining, while carrying
out an austerity program to reduce expenditures. The world’s largest
exporter of gum Arabic, Sudan produces 75-80% of the world’s total
output. Agriculture continues to employ 80% of the work force. Sudan
introduced a new currency, still called the Sudanese pound, following
South Sudan's secession, but the value of the currency has fallen since
its introduction. Khartoum formally devalued the currency in June 2012,
when it passed austerity measures that included gradually repealing fuel
subsidies. Sudan also faces rising inflation, which reached 47% on an
annual basis in November 2012, but subsided to 37% in 2014. Ongoing
conflicts in Southern Kordofan, Darfur, and the Blue Nile states, lack
of basic infrastructure in large areas, and reliance by much of the
population on subsistence agriculture keep close to half of the
population at or below the poverty line.

international disputes: the effects of Sudan's almost constant ethnic and rebel militia fighting since the mid-20th century have penetrated all of the neighboring states; Chad wishes to be a helpful mediator in resolving the Darfur conflict, and in 2010 established a joint border monitoring force with Sudan, which has helped to reduce cross-border banditry and violence; as of 2006, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda provided shelter for over half a million Sudanese refugees, which includes 240,000 Darfur residents driven from their homes by Janjawid armed militia and the Sudanese military forces; as of January 2011, Sudan, in turn, hosted about 138,700 Eritreans, 43,000 Chadians, and smaller numbers of Ethiopians; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel groups; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia proceed slowly due to civil and ethnic fighting in eastern Sudan; Sudan claims but Egypt de facto administers security and economic development of Halaib region north of the 22nd parallel boundary; periodic violent skirmishes with Sudanese residents over water and grazing rights persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic; South Sudan-Sudan boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment, final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation; final sovereignty status of Abyei Area pending negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan

internally displaced persons: more than 4 million (civil war 1983-2005; ongoing conflict in Darfur region)

human trafficking:Sudan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; Sudanese women and girls, particularly those from rural areas or who are internally displaced, are vulnerable to forced labor as domestic workers in homes throughout the country; some of these women and girls are subsequently sexually abused by male occupants of the household or forced to engage in commercial sex acts; Sudanese women and girls are subjected to domestic servitude in Middle Eastern countries, such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, and to forced sex trafficking in European countries; some Sudanese men who voluntarily migrate to the Middle East as low-skilled laborers face conditions indicative of forced labor; Sudanese children transit Yemen en route to Saudi Arabia, where they are used in forced begging and street vending, and reportedly work in exploitative labor situations for Sudanese traders in the Central African Republic; Sudan is a transit and destination country for Ethiopian and Eritrean women subjected to domestic servitude in Sudan and Middle Eastern countries; Sudan is a destination for Ethiopian, Somali, and possibly Thai women subjected to forced prostitution